Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland (Irish: Tuaisceart Éireann, Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a constituent country of the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km²), about a sixth of the island's total area.1 At the time of the UK Census in April 2001, its population was 1,685,000, between a quarter and a third of the island's total population. Northern Ireland consists of six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster. In the UK, it is generally known as one of the four Home Nations that form the Kingdom. History As an administrative division of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland was defined by the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, and has had its own form of devolved government in a similar manner to Scotland and Wales. The Northern Ireland Assembly, established in 1998, has been suspended multiple times but was restored on 8 May 2007.23 Northern Ireland's legal system descends from the pre-1920 Irish legal system (as does the legal system of the Republic of Ireland), and is therefore based on common law. It is separate from the jurisdictions of England and Wales or Scotland. Short version of entry from Wikipedia, Full Entry here :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland Counties of Northern Ireland Main article: Counties Northern Ireland consists of six counties: * County Antrim * County Armagh * County Down * County Fermanagh * County Londonderry38 * County Tyrone These counties are no longer used for local government purposes; instead there are twenty-six districts of Northern Ireland which have different geographical extents, even in the case of those named after the counties from which they derive their name. Fermanagh District Council most closely follows the borders of the county from which it takes its name. Coleraine Borough Council, on the other hand, derives its name from the town of Coleraine in County Londonderry. Although counties are no longer used for governmental purpose, they remain a popular means of describing where places are. They are officially used while applying for an Irish Passport, which requires the applicant to state their 'County of Birth' - which then appears in both Irish and English on the Passport's information page, as opposed to the town or city of birth on the United Kingdom Passport. The county boundaries still appear on Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland Maps and the Phillips Street Atlases, among others. With their decline in official use, there is often confusion surrounding towns which lie near county boundaries, such as Belfast and Lisburn, which are split between counties Down and Antrim (the majority of both towns, however, being in Antrim) (section from wikipedia, see link above) Cities There are 5 major settlements with city status in Northern Ireland: * Armagh * Belfast * Derry / Londonderry * Lisburn * Newry Towns and Villages for list See the list of places in Northern Ireland for all villages, towns and cities. Residential Estates and Tower Blocks (Insert text and reference links to Estates and blocks here please) Category:United Kingdom